Feature guided waves (FGW) in fiber reinforced composite plates with 90° transverse bends

Abstract

Fiber reinforced composite materials have been increasingly used in high performance structures such as aircraft and large wind turbine blades. 90° composite bends are common in reinforcing structural elements, which are prone to defects such as delamination, crack, fatigue, etc. Current techniques are based on local inspection which makes the whole bend area scanning time consuming and tedious. This paper explores the feasibility of using feature guided waves (FGW) for rapid screening of 90° composite laminated bends. In this study, the behavior of the bend-guided wave in the anisotropic composite material is investigated through modal studies by applying the Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) method, also 3D Finite Element (FE) simulations are performed to visualize the results and to obtain cross validation. To understand the influence of the anisotropy, three-dimensional dispersion surfaces of the guided modes in flat laminated plates are obtained, showing the dependence of the phase velocity with the frequency and the fiber orientation. S H0-like and S 0-like bend-guided modes are identified with energy concentrated in the bend region, limiting energy radiation into adjacent plates and thus achieving increased inspection length. Finally, parametric studies are carried out to further investigate the properties of these two bend-guided modes, demonstrating the variation of the group velocity, the energy concentration, and the attenuation with the frequency.